I too would like body punching as it would discourage a defensive playstyle while balancing where to aim for where an opponent's defense is strong or weak at. The damage buff for dodging would be cool too, but you'd probably have to balance that out too by limiting how many stacks of buff can be stored.
Thank you for the insights. Hmm...although my initial plan for the game was to have a high and low level, I think for now I would like to avoid going that direction if possible because not only will it be more complex, I'll have to make adjustments to the controls too (might need to add more buttons, and for those on mobile, this might be too tight especially for pvp).
For now I'll make some tests while I gather inputs from people. Maybe 2 levels can work, and I'll end up going to original direction. We'll see. I hope you stick around long enough as I try to improve the game!